Unveiling Truths, Embracing Futures: A Story of Courage, Compassion, and Canadian Dreams | Ft. Karla Medina Ep. 049 - My Thick Accent

Episode Transcript
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Gurasis Singh (00:00):
Hi, this is Gurasis Singh and you're
listening to My Thick Accentpodcast.
So imagine living comfortablyin your homeland where every

(00:22):
corner holds cherished memoriesand the warmth of familiarity
envelopes you.
But then life takes anunexpected turn.
A decision made with the hopeof a better life becomes
life-threatening, forcing you toleave behind everything you
have ever known, your family,your home, your country, in
pursuit of safety.

(00:42):
And today is the story of myguest today.
Born and raised in Venezuela,she experienced a childhood
filled with love and dreams, andshe was poised for her
fulfilling career.
However, circumstances beyondher control pushed her to make a
life-altering decisionimmigrating to Canada.
Join us as we explore hercourageous move to Canada, her

(01:04):
initial struggles in a foreignland and the relentless job
search.
Discover the beauty of herresilience, which guided her
through the darkest times,including escaping an abusive
relationship, prepared to beinspired by her unwavering
spirit and her commitment tohelping others rebuild their
lives, this episode promises apowerful story of triumph,

(01:24):
resilience and enduring humanspirit.
Please welcome Karla Madina.

Karla Medina (01:31):
Hi, thank you.

Welcome to the podcast, Karla.
Very happy, very excited tohave you on the podcast.

Oh, thank you for the invitation.
I'm very happy to be here too.

Okay, awesome.
So I, karla, want to start byasking you about the quote which
is on your LinkedIn banner,which says be the light that
helps others see.
I wanted to tell us why thisquote and why this relates to
you.

Well, I have always been very passionate
about helping others, but afterimmigrating to Canada,
experiencing my own skin, nothaving family, not having
friends not having like a groupof support, the one that you are
used to when you are in yourcountry and I saw all these

(02:18):
people coming together tosupport me when I needed it the
most is what you know gave methe courage to like pursue that
as in my day to day life.

Okay, that's nice .
So you were saying that whenyou came here just lack of that
familiarity and lack of thatyour own people.
You saw that how kind and nicethe other communities and other
people were welcoming towardsyou and the thought of being
that person for other people.

Correct.
Yeah, Canada is is full ofopportunities and full of people
to bring those services andsupports you needed, so for me
it was life changing.

We'll definitely talk more about it, dive deeper
into it, of course, but tell usalso about this one habit that
you have adopted that haschanged your life, or something
that has become your secondnature.

Well, when I came to Canada, I started having more
me time and that's somethingthat I pursue a lot now, okay,
and it's a habit of myself likehaving that two hours doing my
nails, two hours reading a book,two hours doing something.
I think it's something thateveryone needs and Canada has

(03:29):
brought me that, because beforeI didn't have that, because I
was always full with friends,with family, with, you know,
surrounded by people.
So I think Canada has hastaught me to to enjoy that a
long time.

I think also because you don't have that
friends to call to or yourparents to go sit with, you end
up talking to yourself a littlemore, right.
You start introspecting, wouldyou agree?

That's true.
That's true, yeah.

So let me take you back to the time you spend
in Venezuela.
Tell us a little bit about youraffirmative years and how was
it like just growing up there?

Well, venezuela is a very warm country.
What I like about it is thepeople.
The warmth of the people youfeel like you are at home in
every corner and, of course, thewarmth of the of the weather as
well, that you can go to thebeach either in January and in

(04:23):
July and is the same weather allthe time.
So I was raised very happy,traveling all around my country
with a lot of family all aroundand, and you know, enjoying my
my foot, which I miss a lot.

Yeah, and what and what the focus was on
growing up.
What are your parents into?
Business or what they like,working class?
How was it like?

Both my parents are engineers.
Okay, so they are.
They were both working and theyreally wanted me to go into
engineering as well.

Okay.

But I I did not agree with that and I went my
own path.

So how?
So how did you get intobecoming a crime news reporter?
You know before that, tell usabout that.

Since I was a child, I was always with a
microphone in my hands, eithertalking either singing, whatever
it was, and I knew I knew itwas my passion and my mom really
tried to help me going into youknow even architecture or
something, because both of themwere in that field.
They could help me build acareer right, but I just refused

(05:34):
.
And then I was like I need tofollow my passion, and that was
journalism.

Okay, and how are your siblings that?
How many siblings do you have?
Or how was it like just growingup with them?
You know, because I think weall grew up in that warmth and
love and I'm sure it's here aswell, but I'm sure the things
are very different in ourcountries compared to North
America.
Tell us about that.

Yeah, totally so.
Yeah, my parents divorced whenI was three years old, so they
both remarried, and then I havetwo siblings, one for for each
one of them.
We're all girls.

And I am the oldest.

So it was really nice growing up going back and
forth between my mother's and myfather's house because they
live like from one extreme tothe other in the country.
So I was always traveling,enjoying Christmas here and
there and then new years andvacation, so it was really
really good.
My, my siblings one of them isin Peru at the moment, okay,

(06:33):
smaller and the middle one isactually here in Toronto.
She just moved here recently.

Okay, okay, and what they also like a rebel
because they saw that theireldest sister has chosen the
career path of their own choice.
But they also rebel infollowing a path and doing
whatever they wanted.

Yeah, so the smallest she's also an engineer,
so she followed my parents'instructions.
But the middle one she's alawyer, so yeah, same as the
sister.

Okay, and what is something that people might not
know about Venezuela that youwould like to share?

Venezuela has the most amazing landscapes.
You can find snow in themountains.
Sometimes you can find beaches.
You can find, like deserts,everything in the same country.
It's a very small land but it'slike it has very amazing places

(07:33):
to go and travel and explore.

Okay, and what about the languages that I mean?
The Spanish is, I believe, theprimary language.
Right Apart from that, anyother languages you speak there?

No, we all speak Spanish.
And then there are the Indianlanguages, so the people that
are are original.
They speak other dialects, butthe rest of the country we only
speak Spanish.

Okay, okay.
And if not a crime newsreporter.
Or you said you want to go intoengineering also but if not
either of these careers, whatother career you would have
chosen?

I think arts that's my back dream.
Anything related to crafts,painting arts is just something
I also love and enjoy doing inmy free time.

Okay, and do you do that even up until today?

Yeah, I do some sort of crap, okay, okay.

And what is something that, from your home
country, or from your you knowTradition, that's something that
you have managed to preserve upuntil today in Canada?
What is that?

So what I'm trying to preserve is the food.
I have two children and I'mtrying to teach them and raise
them with our Culture and ourfood.
So I'm trying those traditionsnot to die.
I also brought from Venezuela,asked my father to bring me,
like the special Pants to cookthe food.

(09:01):
So I do a rep us for breakfastevery day and I'm trying for
them to be raised like that.

Well, what, what, what kind of utensils?
The last mode about that.
What do you mean?

So there is a, there is a pan that is Is like a
big circle where you do the repus, so you please like a flat
bread of corn, and then you putthat then to cook.
It's almost I think you do thenan there, something like that
very similar.

Okay, okay, I asked that because I have
brought five six years ago Likea cooker, like a special sort of
a cooker, you know, with apistol on top.
I mean, of course, you can buythem here as well.
I brought that from India andwhenever I cook my roommates are
like I have never seen this.
So it's kind of vessels before,what is this?
And then sometimes when theystand next to it and it whistles

(09:52):
, they all get scared when theysee it for the first time.
Oh my god, what kind of youknow vessel is this?
So that's why I asked.

Oh, I also have that.
One is the pressure cooker,exactly.
Oh, yeah, yeah we use that alot.

Yeah, okay.
So, like I mentioned in myintro, that you were, you know,
living a comfortable life inVenezuela and was having a flat
as Sinkari or as a crime newsreporter, but then you decided
to take an action that led youto run for your safety.
So to say so, I want to tell usall about our, about that

(10:28):
dualistness.

Yeah, I Joined the TV station of my my state
called or in a cold television.
I was at the beginning workingin education in the field of
education news, but then my bosssaw that I had like too much
Courage maybe and she's like Ithink you will be good for crime

(10:53):
news reporter.
So then I switched to the thefont that is crimes, and I
really liked it and enjoyed it.
But I didn't really realize howdangerous it was until one day
there was a crime where fivepeople were killed.
Three of them were innocent,two of other one.

(11:14):
The other ones were involved ina crime earlier where
somebody's Child was was killed,killed, and then it was a
Retaliation.
But my concern and my problemthere is that three people that
were in in the scene and wereinnocent were killed.
So I was really upset aboutthat.
And then when we had the pressconference with the director of

(11:36):
the police, all the journalistswere there and the director of
the police is like please do notShow.
We have the CCTV Showing whodid it and everything, but don't
say it because you know it'sgonna be bad because it's
somebody involved in thegovernment.
And I said I am not gonna likelie about this to like society.

(12:00):
I am very upset and, I'm gonnasay it, bad decision, of course,
but I went ahead and I said iton TV.
This is a person that did thisand then that brought us a
consequence that apparently thewife of the person who did it,
who is also the mother of theperson that was killed

(12:20):
previously, she, washospitalized because, like, her
nerves Got into her, because sheknew that that was going to be
bad for them and people wouldcome after them.
So that person decided to goafter me and go to the TV
station with like 300 people,like with Sign, saying my name,

(12:42):
like Carla, you're done stufflike that, like they had stones
in their hands.
I'm like, okay, um.
So he said I need you to giveme the right of appeal to
Respond to the, to the news thatyou did yesterday.
I did gave him the chance and Ispoke to all my colleagues and
I called them to see if they,you know, wanted to support me

(13:03):
and go with me.
None of them.
They're like, no, that's toodangerous.
So I went with the cameraman infront of the police, but it was
so scary that I called myfather.
I didn't know if I was going toget out of there alive.

Yeah, honestly yeah.

I called my father and I said this is happening.
I didn't want him to know, butI was like this is happening,
I'm right here in front of thepolice.
If something happens, you knowwhat was done, who was it?
So my father is like I'm goingthere, I'm gonna pick you up.
I'm like do not do that Neverbecause it's worse.
So thank, thankfully they werethere.

(13:39):
They threatened me a lot.
They said I'm gonna do anything, my power to remove their
license as a journalist, like ifsomeday your body appears,
nobody's gonna know who did it,stuff like that.

And that was all in front of the police.

Yeah, but the police in front of the building.
But the police was not there,they didn't want to get involved
.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, they are like we are not in.
We told you not to do it andyou did it, so it's like you're
on your own.
They also told me, the policetold me, even if you come here
and put a Complain against him,yeah.
I'm not proceeded, you know,because he's in the government.
So I was on my own, basically,and After that I was starting
having panic attacks, and oneday I saw him and two of his

(14:24):
gunmen's were walking down in achopping mall.
I was alone with my father.
I had a panic attack.
I was shaking and then myfather is like that's it, you're
leaving, you need to leave thecountry that that's too unsafe.

Yeah, but walk us through that timeline.
That okay, when you actuallydid the news, after how long
they retaliated or they try totally it.
And then this incident whereyou were With your father in the
mall.

So the incident when I did the news was in
October when I saw him that heasked me for like Giving the
right of appeal was the next day, okay.
And then they change thedeciding in my channel to change
me the the phone.
So I was not doing Crimeanymore, I was doing like
politics or something Mm-hmm toprotect me.

(15:08):
So I didn't have to deal withhim anymore.
But then I saw him like a monthafter in the shopping and
that's when my father decidedthat's it, you're leaving.

Okay, okay.
I wanted to tell us that theday when you were Preparing to
go live and talk about you knowthis incident, when you had the
footage, you had everything andyou were filled with that angst.
You know that why they killedinnocent people.
If you remember, you know aboutthat moment, tell us, like what

(15:37):
was going on in that in yourmind at that time, because you
knew that what kind ofrepercussion it might come
towards you, right?
So tell us about that momentwhen you were preparing and when
you actually delivered the newsstory.

So when I was in that situation, what I thought
was I made a commitment that Iwas going to be the voice for
all the people.
I was going to be the onlyresource that they have to know
the truth.
And if I have the new, thetruth, on my hands, why would I
lie to protect somebody?
Of course that was a risk thatI decided to take and I guess I

(16:11):
didn't Really thought about howbig the repercussions to myself
would be, but I was reallyObsessed that all the other
people that were killed andtheir families will never know
what happened to them Because Ineeded to protect a criminal,
right?
Yeah, so I?

I guess that was it and Adam, and people are also
telling me that I think thatperson's Mother, or our wife, I
believe, was in the hospital andand he was saying that she was
really affected by the news andshe ended up us, you know
getting to the hospital becauseshe knew that people might
retaliate.
Is that true?

That's true.
That's true.
Yeah, when I gave him the rightof appeal the next day, she was
there.
Hmm, she was with that, likethe Bible in the hands and all
of that and but he had a reallybad trajectory of doing this
Like he is very well known tolike act as a like the head of a

(17:13):
criminal group there.
So for me, everything wasmanipulation.
And of course, he said that hisson was involved in something
like that, but at the same time,as I said, I don't think that
was the best solution and that'swhy I decided to report on that
.

Yeah, but well, kudos to you and I think, hats
off to you for taking thatcourage because, like you said I
love what you said that youwanted to be the voice of people
and you knew that you won't beable to sleep at night by
knowing the truth, that I knewwho was the person behind me or
who's the actual culprit, so tosay, you knew about that person

(17:51):
and you didn't want to keep itwith you and want to share it
with the world to see.
But, yeah, kudos to you.
You know, hats off for takingthat action.
So that's commendable.

Thank you.

Obviously, that was one of the situations which
for the lady to search aboutNorth America, US and Canada,
and you wanted to decide it.
You decided to come to Canada.
So tell us about thatpreparation phase and how was
the process for you like.

Yeah, of course, in a normal situation, in a
normal country, you will justbuy a plane ticket by the
studies that you want to make inthe other country and just
leave.
In the moment, in my country,we were having this transition
period of like I don't want togo into political discussion,
but like my country was in thehands of like Chavez, which was

(18:43):
the president at the moment, andhe changed all the rules for
that, like immigration and allof that.
So it was really difficult forme to get the funds because he
made illegal to buy dollars inVenezuela.
Oh, like any currency,international currency was
illegal.
So the only person you couldbuy dollars from was the
government and you had to do theapplication and all of that and

(19:08):
like make sure you had theright explanation of why you're
buying dollars.
So I was.
I did the application threetimes and it was denied two
times.
At the third time was approved.
That's why it delayed a littlebit more the actual trip,
because for me it will be idealto like come right away.

(19:30):
So it happened in October and Iwas able to come.
Finally, what it was approved.
The funds were approved inFebruary.
We bought the money from thegovernment on February, and then
I came in March.

Okay.
So when you decided to movehere, carla, what about your
family?
Were they like undersupervision, or what they like
safe, I believe?

they in that moment.
I had to move.
My mother and my father wantedme.
I had like.
Of course, I stopped working atthe at the TV station, and then
I was just at home, basicallywaiting for the approval from
the government so I could leave,and you know, hiding myself,
trying to not be too exposed.

Okay, and there was no sort of like like lack of
safety towards the family.

I didn't feel like it, but we were also like very
cautious, scared, like to seeyeah, it's scared Okay.

So then you landed in Canada.
Tell us about your first dayand what were the initial
thoughts and emotions.

And finally I came .
I came as an internationalstudent.
I came here to study Englishfor like a year and it was.
It was.
It was great.
I made a lot of friends inschool.
It was very amazing.
But you know, at the back of myhead is not like majority of

(20:55):
people might come here.
Oh, I'm just going to studyEnglish and then I'm going to go
back.
At the back of my head wasalways the thought I need to
find a way to stay in thiscountry.
So, yes, I wasn't joining theEnglish and the friends and
going out, but at the same timeI was like I need to see what
the resources are for me to stay.
I can't go back to Venezuela.

Right, so so what ?
What was the next step afterthat?

The next step is I started researching, speaking
with other Venezuelan people,and I found out that, because of
my circumstances, of what Icame here and I had a lot of
proof to demonstrate it I wasable to ask for a refugee claim.
And then that's how where Ifound an amazing lawyer.
God bless him.

(21:38):
He was like very amazing.
As part of my process, I spoketo him, I show him what I had.
He asked me for more proofs andright away he took my case.

You know also, since when somebody, somebody
decides to immigrate, you knowthey come with some sort of
preparation Okay, this is theculture there, this is the
weather there, this is theplaces there.
But in your case you justwanted to leave.
Right, you did not prepareyourself for all that culture
exchange or that exposure or theculture shock you might come
across.

(22:09):
So tell us about that phase.
You know something thatcompletely shocked you about the
culture in Canada, or somethingthat you were completely
unprepared for?

Something that surprised me like positively is
the multiculturalism.
I loved how you know you canfind Japanese, you can find
Indian, you can find Latino, youknow everywhere, and that was
something that was veryenriching of my experience here.
I was like this is amazing andI was really happy to be part of

(22:41):
the culture.
And something that I also sawas Like shocking, maybe, was the
weather.
Of course, winters were so hardat the beginning.
I could see why, like you know,when it's dark at 4 pm and it's
dark until like the next day at9 am you're like oh my God,

(23:04):
this is always night.
But again I got to enjoy summersand springs and that I got to
love.
I grow to love the country,even with the weather.

Okay, and even like with the job search, I
believe it might have taken youlonger to get the job.
Walk us through that job searchjourney a little bit.

Yeah, I feel like the resume building and like all
the stuff that we haveexperience in our countries is
very different, very differentthan in Canada.
So I really feel like you, tobe able to be successful, to
secure a job here, you need tobasically do a course on, like,
how to apply, how to do a coverletter.
So, yes, it was a lot.

(23:47):
It was a lot to reallyunderstand what are the
requirements and how to likereally shape your resume to each
position that you're applyingto.
But again, it's part of theculture and it was a little bit
difficult to learn.

So after how long ?
When you?
I think you landed in 2013, Ibelieve right.
So after how many months, orafter how long, did you end up
getting your, like, the firstdesired job?

The one that I really like.
That is the one that I'mcurrently working in.
I got it in 2020.
Okay, because at the beginning,I was working here and there
and then, after that, I decidedto go back to college.

So now let's just pivot towards you know, to the
time where it was a really toughtime, a dark time for you,
where you were in a certainrelationship and you were
pregnant with the, with yoursecond child, with a second
daughter, but and you decided,you got that courage to leave
that and because of variousreasons.
Right, tell us about that timeand what was something that was

(24:58):
instilled in you that made youthat, okay, I have to pack my
bags and leave this time,because usually people might not
have the courage to do that.
I wanted to share with us thatmoment.

Yeah, he didn't kind of that.
When I came, I met somebodywhich I thought was going to be
with that person forever.
We got together, started livingtogether and we had two
children.
The first pregnancy was amazingand then after a while the
relationship became reallydeteriorating because of, like

(25:34):
having a baby, no, having help.
I was totally like relying allmy resources and my like
attention to the baby, of course, and then I think that talk at
all into the relationship.
And then I got pregnant with mysecond baby and that's when
everything really went downhill.
I started to experiencedomestic violence and I think it

(26:00):
took me since the beginning ofwhen it started.
It took me three or four monthsbefore I left and really the
courage and the motivation toleave I got it when my first
baby was one year old.
I was four months pregnant withthe second and when I really

(26:20):
saw that I was going to beprobably killed with my baby on
my belly.
That's what I was like.
Okay, I need to live, so notknowing where to go in.
And also, that is not also thephysical abuse, but also the
mental one where they say if youleave, you're going to lose the
baby because you have no meansto support the baby and the

(26:43):
government is going to take itfrom you.
That's the only reason why Istayed.
So I decided to go on Facebook.
I had joined a group of Torontomoms or something like that in
some months before that and Iposted that.
I was like I have nowhere, likenothing else to do.
So I posted there I'm sorry,like I'm pregnant, I have

(27:06):
another baby and if I don'tleave, I think I'm going to like
get killed.
I really need help.
So they somebody, as an angel,she said give me your address,
I'm going to go get you.
Then, god, at that time he hadleft the house.
So I had time.
I packed two or three things,that's it.
I got my baby, got into the carand left.

(27:27):
This was a complete stranger,but I had no other option to
other to trust.
So she decided to bring me liketo.
She bought food for me and mykids which he took hers to
McDonald's, as I told you, likepeople here.
Just so wonderful.
She talked me to McDonald's,she bought some stuff for us and

(27:49):
in that time we were calling tosee if there was a shelter
available and we got a place andshe drove me there and she
drove me.
After that, I received 264messages of women trying to
support me.

Wow, that's incredible 264.

And then in that time I was like thank you
everyone, we are safe, we madeit.
The only thing is that I leftmy house with like nothing and
my baby's like bored and youknow she's like.
She was like having tantrum,she was sad, she didn't
understand what was going on.
We were like in a place thatwas really new for her.

(28:29):
So this, as I said, this groupof amazing women, they were like
where are you?
They brought toys, diapers,like everything.
Everything.
I was like, so surprised oftheir support.

And is it the same place where you end up
going?
Do you were telling me aboutthe Wood Green Community
Services?
Was that also like the part ofit?

In the shelter where I, when I was living there
, when I was speaking with thesocial workers, they knew I
really had a passion to like getout of poverty.
I really wanted to like thereare people that decide to just
stay at home, but I reallywanted to do something with my
life and they knew it, so theyspoke to me about that program

(29:11):
is called Homeward Bound and isby Good Green Community Services
.

Okay.

And as soon as I knew about it I called.
They interview me.
I pass on the interviews theEnglish test, the math test,
everything.
But then I was pregnant yet andthey were like Carla, we don't
really know.
If, you like, after you haveyour baby you're going to be
able to commit to two years in acollege, right?

Absolutely.

So it's better you have the baby and then you come
back.
You are not going to believe me.
I had a C-section and as soonas I woke up I saw that the baby
was perfect.
Everything was perfect.
I called back to the programfrom the clinic.
I'm like I'm ready.
My baby is ready.
We're perfect.
Just give me the chance, andthey did.
Two weeks later after that, mybaby was like two weeks old and

(30:01):
we moved to an amazing apartmentthree bedrooms and I started
the preparation for college.
It was not easy.
I had a newborn and I wantalmost two years old.
I was breastfeeding.
It was.
It was a lot, but I was.
My motivation here is they arebabies.

(30:21):
They are not going to rememberthese struggling times.

Yeah.

By the time I finish all my program.
I have a job, I have a house, Ihave everything and a car.

Yeah.

They are not going to remember all this time.
They're going to remember me asa empowered woman, and that's
what I want from them.

Yeah, wow, that's , that's phenomenal.
I mean you just sitting in yourhospital after your delivery
calling that you want to go andjoin the program, this is
incredible, you know.
I this clearly shows.
I mean, if listeners can reallyget inspired from you, that
just having that passion andcourage to help people, you know

(30:56):
, help people come out of thosetoxic situations, for example.
You know, building, instillingthat courage in you, like this,
is the time you should notaccept that as your faith or
something wrong is going on inyour life.
You can't really fight it, youcan't really come out of it.
Sometimes you do need a littlebit of support, a little bit of
nudge, like in your case, thatangel, the lady who just showed

(31:17):
up to your house and asked toget in the car with their
children and going in.
I think you wanted to be thatperson and you saw that there
are some amazing kind of peopleand I think you saw that you can
really do that for other people.
So that's, that's amazing,carla.
That's so inspiring to hearthat.
That's awesome.

Thank you, thank you and then, yeah, that's my
motivation now to help otherwomen to like spread the message
that it doesn't matter thesituation that you're in, it
doesn't matter you don't speakEnglish, it doesn't matter if
you don't have a job, it doesn'tmatter how many children you
have.
You can survive living theabusive situation and you can

(31:55):
find the resources in thiscountry and the people to
support.

Yeah, but tell me also, carla, if any of our
listeners I hope not, you knowif any of the acquaintances are
in a similar situation.
You know as you were in, andyou know having that courage to
from the point A to point B ofgetting up and calling somebody
or texting somebody is alsoreally hard.
That journey from A to B isalso hard.

(32:20):
What advice or what suggestionwould you give?
What advice would you give tothem?
Or if any of their friends arein this situation, what would
you tell them?

I will tell them that there is also always an
option that there is nothing tobe about.
The worst is to stay where youare.
That's the worst that you cando If you really want to live
and you have so many fears likewhere are you going to live,
what are you going to do?
Where are you going to getmoney from?
I'm telling you, I have gonethrough all of those and Ontario

(32:49):
, toronto and Canada as acountry has everything in place
for you to succeed the way youwant, as a mother and as a
single mother as any you want.

Yeah, awesome, great, and I will also put the
link to all these communitiesthat you end up joining in the
show notes so that listeners canalso check out them.
So all the links to that can befound in the show notes.
Karla, also, tell us about yourcurrent role now and what are
your daily day to day looks like.

Yeah, I recently got promoted and I'm now working
as a development and communityoutreach manager in the
Prosperity Project.
The Prosperity Project is anorganization that is a Canadian
organization that supports womenand self-identifying women in
all areas of life and what we dois we are a group of also women

(33:42):
just looking for resources,looking for that career
leadership and careeradvancement for women in
different traits, in differentprofessions, for women to really
find a place where they can beheard, they can be accepted,
they can be understood and wecan provide for them all kind of

(34:05):
services for them to succeed.

And Karla, didn't you think of going back into
your journalist career ever?

I thought of it, but after everything that has
happened, I really want to tryto work in a space where I can
support others by providing themwith services other than being
a journalist.
That's something that I thinkit was a dream and I really had

(34:35):
the time to fulfill it.

Okay, and you would also, I believe, a content
creator for some time.
Tell us about that.
What kind of content was it andwhere was it?

Yeah, in 2020, I started to go to like because
COVID had happened and I was athome with the kids.
I started to post a lot ofcontent on a platform called
TikTok and I became like veryviral at the moment, and then I
found a place where I could workas creating content, as

(35:08):
advertisement in Spanish, forall the different social media
platforms.
So I'm still working on that.
I do videos on daily basiswhere I offer different services
.
They hire me to do the ads andthey posted either in Facebook,
instagram or TikTok.

Okay, and what's your handle on a TikTok that
people can follow and check outyour content?

I believe you said it's in Spanish.
I have things in English to.
The handle is at Karla0487.

Okay, and the links to check out her social
media profile, then to contactKarla, can be found at the show
notes.
Okay, karla.
So now we're in the finalsegment of the podcast.
I call it Beneath the Accentbecause we are knowing each
other beneath the accent.
I'm going to ask a couple ofquestions.
You can answer them in one wordor a sentence, or how several

(35:59):
you feel like.
The idea is just to know moreabout Karla, so ready.

Ready.

So first is the classic question what advice
would you give to Karla, who isin the initial months of
learning in Canada?

I will say do not listen to your fears and just
let your dreams drive you towhatever you want to get.

Okay, I think that's a great advice, and is
there any best advice thatsomeone ever gave you?

Yes, as a mother, I will share this for anyone
that is a parent.
There was a person that markedmy life and she said to me
remember, your kids are nevergoing to remember how you were
dressing them when they weresmall, all the toys that you
bought for them.
They are not going to rememberthat.
They are going to remember you,how you view and how you

(36:48):
present yourself and how you are, at the time, present with them
, like enjoying with them, andthat changed my life.
Wow, I started focusing only onthem and I started focusing
also on me and being okay withme, so they can Later try to
become a better version ofmyself.

Absolutely love this great advice.
Is this something you recentlybought, carla, that you now
regret?

Yeah, I bought some tickets for a festival and
the festival was suspended andthey haven't sent me the money
back.

So what's next on your bucket list?

Travel, travel a lot.

Where do you want to travel?

So next year I'm planning to go to Colombia to do
the wedding of my dreams.

Mm-hmm.

And after that I just want to travel Europe, asia
, thailand like a lot.
I want to travel a lot, that'smy, my goal.

Have you thought about going to India?
I do want to go to India, yesokay, if you had to describe
yourself as any creature, whatwould it be and why?

I like monkeys.

So you did.
We describe yourself as amonkey.
Why is that?

Yes, because they are funny and for me, like, like
, laughter is is the bestmedicine.
So I think Monkeys are reallyfunny and I love how they are
very similar to humans, like,but they have more Freedom than
us because they can go on, youknow, climbing everywhere.

So I really like love monkeys.
Okay, what's the most expensivething you own?

my happiness.

Okay, so now tell us the real answer what is the
most expensive thing you own?

My car, my car, yeah.

So what's the most expensive thing?
You would like to own a house,okay, so who's your go-to person
when you feel stuck?

my sister.

Mm-hmm.
So what's the most unusual orunique food that you have ever
tried, and did you like it?

I try ants really from.
Thailand and I tried Warms fromMexico and did you like them?
I wouldn't say so.

Okay, so I'm assuming you would not try them
again.

I don't think so Okay.

What other cuisines have you tried other
than you know your own aftercoming to Canada?

Oh my god, here I have tried a lot.
I love Vietnamese for all Asianfood.
I love Vietnamese, thai,chinese, japanese, indian all
Asian is my favorite food.

Okay, if you could swap lives with someone
for a day, who would it be andwhy?

I will swap lives with Lady D, maybe.

Lady D, I'm not sure what, who?

Lady Lady Diana, the the.

Okay, why is that ?
What would you like to do?

first she had a lot of money.
She has, she has it.
She's amazing with the glamourbut Best of all, she has the
best Heart ever, alwayssupporting great causes.
Okay and she traveled a lot too.

So great answer, and Are there any certain
Spanish movies or series thatwould like to recommend our
listeners to must watch?

Yeah, there are several.
There is a movie recently thatcame out with the situation of
Venezuela.
It's called Simon Simon.
Okay, I haven't watched itbecause it was released last
week, but it's basicallyeverything that the government
is trying to hide of whathappened in my country.
So I think it's veryinteresting and I really want to

(40:39):
watch it.

Yeah, that would be a great recommendation to
know more about Venezuela, forsure.
Yeah, so, karla, if you couldbe a contestant or any reality
TV show, which one would youchoose?

Any cooking.
I'm a terror Okay.

And you think you'll you.
How far do you think you can go?
Finals I.

Will be yeah, maybe finalist.
Yeah, I think I love my cooking.

So describe Canada in one word or a sentence
.
Inclusive and resourceful andfinally, if you could leave me,
karla, with one piece of advice,what would it be?

chase after your dreams.
That is nothing impossible andWhatever you want to be, you are
, you are gonna be able to do itgreat, great words, and how
would you describe yourexperience of being on the
podcast?
Very fun and Really it was areally nice experience.

Okay, so thank you.
Thank you, karla, for being onthe podcast and adding value to
my listeners.
Thank you.

Thank you.

Hey listener, thank you for making it to the
end.
I highly highly appreciate youlistening the podcast.
Subscribe to the podcast if youhaven't as yet, and please
share with your friends oranybody you think would like it.
And like I always say, weencourage you to follow your
heart, but also on Instagram thehandle is @MyThickAccent.

(42:03):
You can also leave us a review,or write to us at
Hello@mythickaccent.
com.
So stay tuned and let'scontinue knowing each other
beneath the accent.

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Unveiling Truths, Embracing Futures: A Story of Courage, Compassion, and Canadian Dreams | Ft. Karla Medina Ep. 049